This invention relates to a yarn spool holding tray which is particularly but not exclusively designed for holding spools of yarn arranged for use with commercial embroidery machines or the like.
Commercial embroidery machines generally have a plurality of heads simultaneously operating to effect an embroidery action on a base fabric. Each head is supplied with yarn from a plurality of different yarn spools so that the head can switch from yarn color to yarn color by selecting one of the needles at the yarn head. Each needle is threaded with a respective one of the yarn colors. In a commercially popular arrangement, the machine has twelve heads with each head having six needles each associated with a respective yarn color. Each machine therefore has a yarn supply totaling 72 yarn spools which must be managed by the operator to ensure a continuing supply of the required colors. Other machines are also available from one head to six heads and up to twenty four heads.
In addition, it will of course be appreciated that yarn is supplied in many more colors than the simple six colors available at the machine head. It is necessary therefore in any embroidery machine operation to store and manage a very large number of spools of the different colors. Each embroidery machine. Operation therefore has a stock room containing a very large number of spools of different colors with each color having at least twelve spools, one for each head, and generally more since it is necessary of course to have a reserve supply.
The management and control of this spool supply is extremely difficult and constitutes a major problem in the embroidery business.
The spools are of different designs and arrangements depending upon the particular yarn supplier. In general, however, each spool of yarn includes a base support cone on which the yarn is wound. The base support cone is conical in shape so as to allow the yarn to be pulled off over end of the cone in conventional manner.
While yarn spools of this type are relatively stable, mishandling can of course damage the spool by partially or wholly unwinding the structure of the wound yarn package and if this occurs, the whole of the yarn of that spool may become wasted or at least a part of the spool may be unwound and discarded. Such damage can occur if the spools are mishandled by being carried manually as a bundle of the spools or by being dropped or the like.
Canadian Patents 517,108 (Russell), 514,541 (Storer) and 645,745 (Ellis) disclose various forms of support tray having projections from the tray which project into a spool as a friction fit with the spool for use in packing the yarn packages for transportation. These devices are intended to be simple inexpensive elements used in packing and not suitable for permanent storage of spools of different sizes.
Canadian patent 881,936 (Cosentino) discloses a yarn spool storage device in the form of a cabinet with a pair of inclined surfaces each of which has a plurality of outstanding pegs onto which a yarn spool can be attached. This arrangement is however intended for spools of copper wire in the wire industry and is entirely unsuitable for storing yarn spools in a manner which renders them readily for use at for example a twelve head embroidery machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,127,018 (McMasters) discloses a wire element for supporting a yarn package. U.S. Pat. No. 3,283,892 (Rosen) discloses a packaging system for yarn and the like which includes a box for transportation with the main feature including a sleeve for protecting the package material.
However none of these devices is in any way suitable for storing and supplying yarn particularly for a yarn embroidery machine.